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Photos of Hoary Bat (Lasiurus cinereus) · iNaturalist

they really are just so damn fluff.

for further information, the 'pipistrelles' mentioned in the cited paper are actually Perimyotis subflavus. Which are not pipistrelles, they're more related to myotis spp. than pipistrelles; their western cousin species - Parastrellus hesperus - are more related to pipistrelles though, thus the designation of 'parastrelle', but at the time that paper was written, such designations and reclassifications were not... apologies for the tangent.

an Underland-sized hoary could be a quite effective predator, indeed; especially if they're smart about who they hunt. (tbh I'd probably fall for that ruse. they're just so damn fluffy. An Aeorestine large enough to actually hug without risking harm to the bat - and that can hug back? aaaaaaaa wish fulfillment.)

"'Come inside my hammock,' said the flier to the flutterfly..." and a hypothetical otherwise situationally-unaware/-innocent overlander has no idea of the context... or, if underlander human, they'd be raised from a young age to believe that fliers mean no harm, that a bat will always be around to catch them... a predatory flier would be such a horrible inversion of that concept.

knowledge that lives rent free in my mind: some species of bats predate upon smaller bats. hoaries in particular have been known to attack pipistrelles even during periods of insect abundancies (Karl A. Shump, Ann U. Shump, Lasius cinereus, Mammalian Species, Issue 185, 23 November 1982).

hoaries are also extremely fluffy. possibly the fluffiest bat in north america.

so, the idea of a rogue flier with the appearance and physical traits of a lasiurus cinereus could be a very effective predator of unaware or too-trusting people in the underland. and any missing people could be blamed on other denizens of the underland. who would suspect a flier? especially one so fluffy?

lasiurus species, not just hoaries but all of the lasiurini, are also known to use their fluffy tails as blankets, curling up and sheltering their front, with only their heads and maybe a bit of their chest remaining exposed. a lasiurini flier could offer such as a hammock, especially to Overlanders not used to living underground, away from the warmth of the Sun. It just so happens that that might put an unlucky individual's head in biting range, and once that individual dozes off...

i bestow this cursed information upon you to do with as you wish.

It's perfect and I will cherish this forever. Cannibal fliers and human predating fliers go into the worldbuilding.

GUYS! I have learned crucial information about bats I think everyone should know. Especially pertaining to Underland fliers.

Bats can purr!

They vibrate and they sound like engines, it's adorable. There is a great video of one on the Maid of Bats Instagram page. And I am also immediately adding it to my headcanon that fliers purr unconsciously under certain circumstances of happiness, and that they can do it at will. Just a deep rumble while they vibrate. Just-

Gregor: *does something*

Ares: *finds it endearing and starts purring unconsciously*

Everyone else: 0_0 WTF, I didn't think Ares could do that anymore.

Or also,

Luxa: *extremely stressed out about something that happened or about being queen and goes to Aurora*

Aurora: *wordlessly wraps her wings around Luxa and starts purring to help Luxa relax*

one of the best academic paper titles

WUH-OH!

If you're reading this, that means you just got sniffed by a bat! Share and tag your friends to totally sniff them!

Lesser long-eared bat, via

This bat is alive! Just being X-rayed.

A concept knocking around in my head; a flier who wishes to visit the Overland, suddenly having a chance encounter with someone from topside. Of course, getting back up there is easier said than done, as the access point their human acquaintance unwittingly utilized is in very unfriendly territory.

But her father knows another way to the surface. And with a human accompanying her, surely Regalia won't raise a mighty fuss over a flier transiting through one such passage?

---------

(human point of view)

"Henry! Ares! The Overlander is escaping!" Ares? Who the frick is Ares? My gut was sinking faster than the Titanic as my mind whirled, pattern-matching… wait. Ares. Greek god of war. Most of the bats down here seemed to have mythological names; Nohsia was the only exception thus far. Whoever this Ares was, they were either built like a brick shithouse, or their parents had… exceedingly high expectations that might not have been met as the lil'batty grew up. Yeah. That was probably it. Hopefully. I tentatively released my grip on Nohsia's neck fur and retrieved one of the road flares from my pocket. "Just gonna get a little light on the situation," I informed my chiropteric companion, before igniting it and throwing it into the darkness below. "Wait- what are you doing?!" Nohsia cried out. "They will see us!" "They already know we're up here!" I watched as the flare plummeted, descending… possibly ten meters? Twenty. Thirty. Forty. Fif- oh what the actual f- If Nohsia was the size of a small car, and Palaestra was a Winnebago; then Ares was a freaking semi-truck! Dude definitely ate his spinach growing up! Washing it down with the blood of his enemies, of course. "HoAAH SHIT," I shrieked, scrambling backward and almost falling off Nohsia, who promptly slowed down and leveled out to prevent such a consequence from occurring. Not good. So not good! "Don't stop! Keep flying up!" "But you'd have fallen!" "That's the least of our worries! Where the hell is it!?" "Where's what? What did you-" Her voice stilled. I felt her muscles twitching. Then she fell out from under me, twisting wildly, and it took all of my barely-adequate strength to hold on as she careened about. I felt the beast's passage over us, the wind from their beating wings doing just as much to enhance her evasive maneuver as her own creativity had. A series of clacks and clicks cut through the darkness almost directly above my right shoulder. The enormous bat - Ares - had just either tried to pluck me away in his claws… or in his jaws. Given how quickly they had passed by, and there was no imminent second attempt, it was probably - hopefully - the former case. Then again, I had hoped that Ares was a hilariously misnamed runt of a bat, and look how that turned out!

---------

Oh. Guess not.

note: Nohsia's name is actually spelt 'Gnosia'; [human POV character] doesn't know that at this point, and so is assuming based on pronunciation. It doesn't fit the canonical naming pattern, as she's named after a star instead of someone from Greek mythos... but there's still a tentative connection? According to said mythos, the constellation of Coronae Borealis was created/placed in the sky after Bacchus married Ariadne... or something like that. Inspiration for the bat's name was from an alternate name for α CrB; Gnosia Stella Coronae.

'Gnosis' also translates to 'knowledge', so... a rather apt name for a very curious bat.

As for her appearance... Lasionycteris noctivagans.

--

Meanwhile, Palaestra? Greek goddess of wrestling. Figured that name would be suited for a hypercompetitive individual who also wishes to break with authority and explore the world above. Appearance: Lasiurus/Aeorestes cinereus.

Little Guy

A hungry silverhaired flapflap is fed by a very bad volunteer who didn’t wear a glove like she is supposed to. Don’t tell her boss.

I’ve always in wondered what it must look like when the fliers try to traverse areas that they can’t fly in, like the tunnels in the Dead Land or the halls of the palace, and. Um.

I hope it looks like this.